UPDATE: Looks like CANCELPOCALYPSE isn’t over – scroll down for the latest!

Yesterday, Marvel Comics announced the cancellation of X-23, their last on-going series being written by a female writer. What we didn’t talk about was that X-23 was the last Marvel Universe on-going solo title that featured a lead female character. Well, that is unless you count Ghost Rider, which featured the previously male Ghost Rider now in female form. So there’s still one book left at Marvel Comics that women and young girls can look to to find a relatable lead hero, albeit one who used to be a man.

Things are looking grim for mid- and low-level books over the House of Ideas, which is now undergoing a thorough winter cleaning. Books like Alpha Flight, X-23, and Ghost Rider are being canceled. Some, like Nick Spencer’s teenage Dr. Doom series Victor Von Doom, have been scuttled before they even hit comic book store shelves.

For those curious, here were the October sales number estimates from ICv2 of the recently canceled books:

X-23 – 24,043Ghost Rider – 21,012Alpha Flight – 20,731

Which book will be next? If I were Daken or Black Panther I’d be checking to see if my palm was blinking right about now.

But do not mourn the dead, they are in a better place now. Instead, hold onto your butts because we have entered CANCELPOCALYPSE!

UPDATE by Ron Richards

Black Panther #529

Looks like we spoke too soon, because over at Newsarama where the solicits for Heroes line of books for February debuted, it looks like Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive is also ending/is canceled. The solicitation for Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive #529 states that that issue is the “series finale,” which could mean, like Punisher MAX that the story came to it’s planned ending or that the book is canceled. I’m betting on the latter since we just read this week in Avengers #19 where Black Panther turned down Captain America’s offer to join the Avengers, because he still had work to do in Hell’s Kitchen. I guess that work took less time than than he thought.

It’s a shame because Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive has quietly been another one of Marvel’s best books of this year. Writer David Liss brought Black Panther into Hell’s Kitchen after the debacle of Shadowland in Daredevil and told some really engaging and compelling stories of urban crime and heroism. I think out of all the Fear Itself tie-ins, Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive was my favorite. Throw in some amazing art by Franchesco Francavilla and that book was gold. Guess not enough gold for Marvel though as it’s done.

This also means the end of the original numbering from Daredevil, which was inherited after Shadowland ended. Just in case you’re into that sort of thing.

Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive‘s October sales estimates according to ICv2: 18,248

@Blargo: It can certainly be read that way, but DC *did* cancel a bunch of books before the relaunch (Powergirl, Zatanna, Red Robin, Xombi, JSA, maybe a few more), but those were almost “cancellations by omission” since everything was relaunched.

SPECULATION TIME: Do these cancellations add more cred to the idea that some kind of Marvel relaunch is coming?

Well thats not really impacted on DC. Some of B (hell Z list characters) are doing pretty well out of the relaunch and thats due to having exclusive big name writers. Eg. Animal Man It’s been about 15 years since he supported his own series (at Vertigo) and about 5-10 since he was involved in anything major (52 and all that jazz).

Wow im surprised X-23 was outselling both Ghost Rider and Alpha Flight…. i mean i didnt read any of those but Ghost Rider and Alpha Flight have both been around a long time compared to a new female Wolverine type character

Its pretty lame in all honesty… Marvel can’t make any of their existing female characters appealing enough to have their own books, they are unable to create any new female characters strong enough to be a franchise… so hey, let’s take an already popular character (Wolverine, Ghost Rider) and make a female version of them.

Up next, Ms. Punisher, Silver Surfette, Lady Venom and 3 more colors of She Hulk.

And yes, I know its exactly the same as ‘Batgirl’ and ‘Batwoman’ and ‘Supergirl’… while those characters have been around a while and have a fanbase, its still the same thing: Create a female character by making them the female version of an already popular male character.

Black Panther was not going to continue on indefinitely anyway. Daredevil is back in Hell’s Kitchen, and they’re going to return Daredevil to the original numbering, because that’s what Marvel does. I would not be surprised to see a new Black Panther #1.

They just had their Big Shots of Ghost Rider, Punisher, and Moon Knight. So Ghost Rider is cancelled, and Punisher and Moon Knight only have slightly better sales. I guess that means Big Shots was a failure.

I’m at the point where I hope Marvel cancels the books I like or just starts double shipping until the quality drops. I’m ready to just jump ship and read DC and Independents for awhile. This started back with the amazing Cosmic line, and books like X-23 and Alpha Flight were really solid. Even the books I like (Thunderbolts, New Mutants, etc.) end up sucking when drawn into a crossover for 1/3 of the year. Oh well; plenty of publishers in the sea…

Rob Liefeld ( I know!) has some pretty interesting views on the Disney/Marvel, Movie vs. Books policy in the last Word Balloon. Basically, since Disney doesn’t own the film rights to Ghost Rider, they won’t push it as hard. His main evidence is a lack of X-Men: First Class Merchandising. It’s one of the most interesting things I’ve heard Liefeld talk about.

Meh, I was wondering how long they would let Black Panther continue to ride the dying SS. Daredevil; if they return the new vol. of Daredevil to its original numbering, will they count the BP era?
Oh god no, they canceled a failed play at forced diversity, whyyyyy…?

I, too, can count my Marvel books on one hand, which is sad considering i am a marvel zombie. mine are Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America and Bucky, Uncanny X-Men, Venom, and X-Men( that last one’s on probation).

I know that no one wants to see their favorite book(s) cancelled, but Marvel needs to keep cutting as far as I’m concerned. They’re publishing too many comics and it looks like the Disney overlords have tightened the reigns. It would not surprise me to see Daken, Avengers Academy, Journey Into Mystery & Moon Knight on the chopping block soon. That doesn’t mean that I want them to be cancelled (Moon Knight is one of my current favorites), but from a business perspective, stuff that doesn’t sell gets cancelled.

Actually, Journey apparently sells 28k a month and double-ships (does that mean that it sells 55k? I have no idea). I suspect that it’s not in any danger. It outsells Hulk, Deadpool, Moon Knight and New Mutants. If I had to lay any money on cancellations, it would be Academy, Daken, X-Factor and Generation Hope (which I don’t think will survive without Gillen – nor should it).

I don’t hate Marvel at all. I got hooked on comics thanks to Marvel. I thoroughly enjoyed Spider-Island, and I’m really digging Wolverine, Daredevil, Moon Knight, ASM, Wolverine & the X-Men, Uncanny X-Force, Punisher, Captain America & Bucky and many others. But here’s the deal: Marvel has burned fans (and retailers) over and over again with hype that doesn’t deliver. Fear Itself, death of (insert character name here), the umpteenth renaming & restarting of the Ultimate titles. Then they publish a glorified preview book (Point One) and charge $6.99 for it. We all know that publishers are in business to make money, but Marvel really comes off like a desperate used car salesman these days. Alonso and the creators need to focus on telling quality stories that readers will care about, not the next big event or internet-breaking moment. IMHO, that’s what DC is doing now, and that’s why, (in my store anyway), DC is selling 2-1 over Marvel right now.

So is it Marvel’s fault that female-lead titles don’t sell? Many people are making it out as if Marvel just doesn’t care about females. It’s a shame, but the titles don’t really sell, at least not the way Marvel goes about doing them. On the other hand, Wonder Woman and Batwoman are selling great for DC and are among many fans’ favorites of the New 52. (They’re MY favorites of the New 52, too.) High quality products generally win-out. Marvel just doesn’t get behind anything that isn’t Avengers, Spider-Man, or X-related. I personally liked the X23 series (her female writer included), but it’s kind of tacky to point to that series’ cancellation as misogynist or something. It’s a little-known character written by a little-known writer, and the series got almost no good press from the comics internet media. Then the series gets cancelled and this same comics internet media gets all indignant and sanctimonious.

The last I knew, there weren’t many females or minorities working for iFanboy. Should we call that prejudice as well? Of course not. All of this is really just the demographics that we’re dealing with. It isn’t a conspiracy against women and minorities. Unfortunately the numbers don’t warrant these titles continuing. The only way to make them profitable would have been to charge even higher cover prices for them. But much of the comics internet media thinks that everything should be priced much less. It shows how out of touch with reality a lot of pundits are.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Soon there will be nothing but 3.99 books from Marvel.

I understand them cutting some books – they are producing so freaking many book these days. Tons. It’s just a fact of life that sometimes your favorites – be it comics or TV shows – get cancelled. You just have to appreciate all the good stuff you still have.

And I personally don’t hate Marvel these days, but I think very little of them. Okay it’s pretty close to hate. (But I did quite enjoy Wolverine & X-Men #1 – though if it’s 3.99 for 20/22 pages next issue I will be one and done).

1) Iron Man 2.0 (it started the Cancelpocalypse).
2) Heroes for Hire. It stopped to give space to “Villains for Hire”, which, however, is only a miniseries. Heroes for Hire is not coming back after that.

I certainly am not on any type of Let’s Hate Marvel bandwagon, but I can say that I read a lot less Marvel books than I used to. I think canceling some books would be good for them. One look through the Marvel Previews shows they put out waaaaay too many books. It might be time for them to tighten their belt. It would be nice to see some solid Marvel runs without renumbering, or name changing, or switching characters titles into another books title. I used to be a big Hulk fan, but I cannot decipher what version of Hulk is in which book or which one actually continues off of my original run of Incredible Hulk.

I imagine Avengers Academy is not long for this world with Dark Avengers coming up. It’s funny, but it’s either the biggest coincidence in the world or…. Marvel is scared shitless of DC’s New 52. 2.5 months on top and Marvel books are dropping like flies.

You also forgot to mention All-Winners Squad being “reduced” from an 8 issue mini to a 5 issue mini.

I really like the idea of a Marvel Presents (ala DCU Presents) that a couple of posters have mentioned. Let some of Marvel’s B-Listers shine without the pressure of having to anchor an entire series.

I also think that Marvel is shooting itself in the foot with moving everything to be either Avengers-centric or X-Men-centric. Part of what drove me away from comics years ago was the endless cross-overs and events. Now that I’m back, I’m extremely hesitant to pick up any Marvel titles. Whether true or not, my perception is that I’ll once again I’ll be pushed to buy every title just to keep up, or that I’ll have to suffer through some insipid event cross-over that interrupts the normal flow of the titles I read.

That said, I have seen some glimmers of hope from Marvel since returning. I’m excited to see that they’ve brought back what looks to be Marvel Team-Up with Avenging Spider-Man. I’ve heard really good things about Avengers Academy and Thunderbolts. And I recently found out that Nick Spencer is writing Ultimate X-Men. So I’ll probably dip my foot in to test the waters, but the instant the mega-cross-over begins, I’ll be gone again.

Admittedly I don’t read X-23 (but was about to thanks to Phil Noto being on art) but I’ve talked about Black Panther on numerous podcasts as well as recommended it in Light Week, and we’ve run previews of issues.

Lets face it, none of these cancelled titles is exactly a top seller. They should never have been series in the first place. Marvel and DC do this all to often, put out too many mediocre books which then get cancelled after a few issues. Marvel is the worst offender in this regard.

“Marvel: When Rob Liefeld is the voice of reason, you know we’re in trouble”

I don’t see how this is going to save the company by dropping books left and right. How the heck is that suppose to look good regardless of what the sales were? If fans or nonfans are seeing this drop off in titles, what chance do they have on picking any Marvel book that isn’t labeled Avengers or X-Men?

I don’t want Journey Into Mystery to go, but I fear it might be the next one to go….That or Moon Knight. (It might have Bendis as writer, but if an ‘architect’s’ book is not safe with Punisher MAX then you can’t think any book is safe)

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that (a) the folks who read these titles also read at least one other Marvel on-going series regularly and (b) are likely to spend the money that went to one of these cancelled books one a new Marvel #1.

Agreed. I feel like these announcements, plus DCs recent market share wins, are bringing out a lot fans’ inclinations to buy into the concept of Marvel vs DC as a zero-sum game (for one to win, the other must therefore lose).

While a lot of the recent news about Marvel is intriguing, I think there’s definitely too much of a “the sky is falling” tone in a lot of fan reactions.

Lots of hand-wringing as usual, and then Marvel will announce a bunch of similarly-doomed new titles to replace this batch and everyone will be happy again and keep spending the same amount of money. ‘oooh Javier Pulido on Dr Strange! I’m in!’ etc…

ok everyone, to the tune of ‘Girls and Boys’ by Blur: ‘Cancelling books to add books to cancel books to add books ~’

Clearly the sensible thing to do would be to announce all of these marginal titles as minis or maxis, and hold out the promise of more if they sell. But then they wouldn’t ‘matter’ and wouldn’t have a chance, which is daft but that’s what seems to happen. ‘Watchmen’ could launch these days and people wouldn’t touch it because there was no event tie-in. I doubt you could find a single person who thought that Alpha Flight was improved by those ridiculous Fear Itself tie-ins but because it was an ongoing, they had to be there, seemingly.

I try to be philosophical about these things. If a small book like Black Panther is good, it’s because the creator is good. And if the creator is good, they will graduate from a ‘training wheels’ book like that to a bigger one, i.e. Francavilla moving to Cap and Bucky or whatever. Some creators will return to limbo, which is sad but I believe it’s a fairly efficient process. There aren’t many Alan Moores or Bill Sienckiewiczs out there who only got to work on one little book for Marvel, then nothing ever again. Punisher Max just got cancelled, which sucks, but it would have eventually run out of creative juice anyway. Getting out while they are ahead is fine by me. And it’s not like Jason Aaron isn’t getting work. Steve Dillon will be on a new book soon too i assume.

I am actually thrilled that BLACK AMERICAN/PANTHER, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR is sleeping with the fishes. I enjoy Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s fantastic sci-fi, super-hero vision of the Black Panther…not this second rate BAT MAN YEAR ONE garbage. It might be well written and well drawn but it’s not Black Panther. If you want to read some dope BLACK PANTHER…check out Christopher Priest’s run. Cerebral, fun and mythology expanding stuff. Ghost Rider is just a ridiculous mess. How can you go wrong with a comic book about a flaming skeleton that rides a hellspawned chopper?! Madness. It all goes back to Marvel letting a select bunch of uninspired hacks lead them in making decisions with their characters. I am a Marvel ZOMBIE…but I am stating for the record that my Marvel purchases have truly been chopped down to one book…DAREDEVIL by Waid. The rest of the books I’m buying are by DC…and for the first time in my life, I can honestly say I’m enjoying DC way better than Marvel. And that kind of makes me sad.

I was a lapsed reader who came back with the new 52. Still buying into quite a few of those books because they are quite good for the most part and i am along with them until they aren’t.

The new 52 got me buying comics and I bought into some Marvel as well, Cap, Daredevil, and started the X books with re-genesis.
In the 3 months I have been back though Marvel has already started to annoy me in some respects. As I go back and try and read the X books to see what has been happening lately I struggle getting through New Mutants which I like the characters on and think is a cool team because it is bogged down with constant tie ins. Every 2 issues of a normal book I get it seems like there is 2 to 3 issues for second coming or fear itself, this is very annoying. The .1 and constant, fast renumbering are also very annoying, I fully expect daredevil to be renumbered as soon as it gets to a gimmicky number like 550 or 600.

I was buying X-23 and I am sorry to see it go, it had a unique voice within x-books, which I don’t feel can be said for x-men, astonishing or legacy, those books don’t feel relevant. Marvel just seems to be swinging from event to event, instead of having the books relevant on their own from month to month. There are exceptions to this like X-Force and Daredevil but it is my overall feeling from what I read form the house of ideas. X-men just got hit with a line wide event with re-genesis and is probably going to get with phoenix whatever by mid next year.

With that said I do have some hope for defenders which tackles some characters that feel shunned as of late and can hopefully give Marvel the supernatural angle they have sorely been lacking.

While I would say I am much more happy with DC at the moment if Marvel can chill on their events and up their game I am on board.

I’m not buying any of the recently cancelled/ending titles but I got curious and checked the recent sales charts. A couple of my favorite Marvel books are teetering around the same level as these. I’ve had books I wanted to keep reading cancelled before. It’s disappointing but at the same time I read so many good comics each month and there’s always something new I want to try that I don’t get too mad when a book I like ends.

I tire of the constant .1 issues, the endless crossovers , I can bet the next event will be titled “secret reign of dark civil avengers versus x-whatever .1 the list
[ with deadpool backup]
[complete story to be printed in 70 different comics, every other page in that main title, till we cancel the title and renumber it, leaving you confused.....]

I miss one issue of a book I dont read and somehow the books I read are effected, that seriously has to go.

I care more about continuity in my comics now more than ever, I dont want to have to google a comic to know what is going on anymore. I would much rather read dc now more than ever. I pick up about 15 books a week, usually marvel now I only get ultimate x men, DC timed this perfect, they had to smell the stink of fear itself coming from mile away…..

Christ on a bike!
I have been trying to get over my marvel animosity…
I guess its not to be, america and china agree that the bottom line is all that matters and we know the mouse is on board.
is just sad that everything in the corporate world is the mass appeal madness profit model.

Sad that X-23 is gone. Don’t care that Black Panther is, really ambivalent about that character. Kinda glad, in a weird way, that Ghost Rider was axed, because it blew. In theory, it’s fine that they made someone else Ghost Rider, but the character they made up was unlikable, and the story completely disregarded, as far as I could tell, the fine work that Jason Aaron did a few years back. This (theoretically, at least) sets the stage for a decent Ghost Rider relaunch/mini/guest-starring role in a Wolverine book.

Looks like Black Panther should’ve took Caps offer, he would suit the Secret Avengers well as a black ops team w Remender coming aboard, Cap Britain,Hawkeye,Black Widow, and Black Panther would look great together. i’d also like to see Yellow Jacket and Vision over there but Marvel never gives me a perfect roster, closet they’ve come is the last two X-force teams but Domino needs to be on the current.

Read The Goon and Hellboy, sometimes they leave me satisfied to where I don’t care about the rest. B.P.R.D. too, along with Criminal, Fear Agent, Incognito, Fell, Wormwood, Welcome to Hoxford and older greats like The invisibles or James Robinson’s Starman and forget about the need to keep up w all the new titles, I do love me some Batman and Uncanny X-Force and a few others but theres so many good comix that the Marvel/DC war debate is pointless.

@ Cormac…first of all the logic in my statement about well written and well drawn is this; Brian Michael Bendis might write a wonderful murder mystery style story in the pages of Daredevil and that story might in turn be well drawn by Alex Maleev or whoever but it doesn’t necessarily ring true for the character of Daredevil. I read Daredevil because I’m interested in the character of Daredevil. The same applies for Black Panther. If you are going to produce a BLACK PANTHER book then do so…don’t channel eighteen other characters because you don’t know what to do with Black Panther.

@kenochalek…I understand where you are coming from with that statement. I meant that it pains me to see my preferred universe of characters stumble so blindly in the dark with their core source of entertainment…their comic books. The fact that I’m enjoying DC Comics more right now is not necessarily a problem. Good comics are good comics. It just bothers me that Marvel seems to have lost their complete swagger…and there’s really no reason for that to happen.

Understood. I would argue that creatively, Marvel is doing fine, but making some contactions and adjustments to adapt to the success of the New 52. Should they have seen it coming and started sooner? Yeah, probably, but I’m sure that any organization that’s been on top for so long is ill-prepared for their own decline.

Yes, Fear Itself was kind of a bust, the Point One issue was not so good,and the editorial layoffs and mid-tier cancellations have people concerned.

BUT….the X-books are better than they’ve been in a loooong time, The Ultimate Universe is a cohesive unit putting out exciting stuff. Daredevil is rocking along with good buzz, Spider-man just finished a well-regarded mini-event storyline, and Hickman’s FF books are reaching a culmination point.

And the return of Cable/Scarlet Witch/Phoenix Force/Watcher all points to some time/reality-shaking plots coming in the new year.

So everything isn’t sunshine and roses, but to quote The Most Quotable Movie in History, “Dude, Nothing is F&#$ed here. You’re being very unDude.”

I’m curious as to why you guys edited the article and did away with the potential canceled books and their sales numbers. It was interesting to see the sales compared to the books that have already been canceled. Why the ixnay?

And as for Cancelpocalypse itself, I don’t see this as that big a thing. It’s really not all that different than what normally goes down for low selling books. Yeah, it’s different and extremely noticeable in that it’s all going down at once. But for that matter, DC basically did the exact same thing with the whole nu-52 deal. There were A LOT of low selling books that all at once vanished from publication. So while this is crazy, wacky, and wild stuff. And is a big, fun thing to talk about on the internet. I really don’t see books starring B and C-list characters not making it past 2 years is all that unbelievable.

How am I supposed to keep a pull list if Black Panther and X-23 get cancelled? I swear if Venom and/or Avenger’s Academy go the way of Lassie all I will be reading is Daredevil and some DC titles! Does Marvel not want my money? Or would they rather I buy every Avengers and X-Men book instead? I understand trimming the fat from a business standpoint, or if the book isn’t up to snuff, but this is heartbreaking!

So Alpha Flight and Black Panther, two well-written, well drawn Marvel books I actually read are cancelled. Since they don’t have Avengers or X-men in the title, no one will notice or care. This is on top of the entire Marvel Cosmic Line being killed a few years ago, relegating what’s left of it to a few mini-series of lesser quality. Add in the debacle that was Fear Itself and you have an amazing example of incompetence. Thank God we have all of those Deadpool books!! I guess this is the level of creativity you get under “Chief Creative Officer” Joe Quesada. Priceless.

I tried alpha flight and black panther and dropped both. Same with thunderbolts, avengers academy, heroes for hire, s.w.o.r.d., thor mighty avenger, doctor voodoo and many of the books that get the “marvel cancelled that, this shows how stupid they are”

Everyone who loves these book reacts like these are awesome books everybody would love if only marvel gave them a chance. maybe, just maybe you can entertain the possibility that other people may not share your opinion. i tried many of them, and at the end of the day, avengers, x-men, spider-man, cap, ff are all books i found more satisfying and continue to read. not because they are bigger books (i love shield and the marvel cosmic books and many many others) but because i like them. people like what they like (yes even deadpool which i dont) and will pay for what they like.

now does the fact i didnt like alpha flight black panther, thunderbolts, avengers academy, heroes for hire, s.w.o.r.d., thor mighty avenger, doctor voodoo etc mean i dont know anything about comics, or dont love comics as much as you, or that i dont like diversity in my comics? you can conclude that of you wish, but you would be wrong. Ill gladly put my geek cred up against anyone here.

It just means i like different things than you do. and quite possibly many people do too. dont be mad at marvel or at fandom because your opinion isnt necessarily shared by the majority of comic book buyers.

This is starting to look like the kind of fan entitlement that i am finding increasingly annoying lately.

I always like the way Black Panther looked, but I never could get into him doing the whole Hell’s Kitchen thing. I liked Liss on Mystery Men, but this one never took off with me. I always like the Black Panther as a character.

There are just too many damn books. My comic shop gives me a discount and this shit is still a bit too expensive. I got to trim the fat and start grading my books a lot harder.